Background of the Invention
This invention relates to a vision system for use in a manufacturing apparatus that utilizes automation for the control of the manufacturing process. In particular the invention relates to a vision system that converts images of the manufacturing apparatus's controllable components into gray scale representation of light intensity for processing by a digital computer.
In the last ten years considerable efforts have been spent in automating manufacturing operations especially in the area of parts inspection and process control. Part of the efforts is concentrated in the vision area that uses television cameras. Axis alignment for minute components through enlargement of the components with television is beneficial to semiautomated operation. However, operations that are fully automatic and implemented with computers are limited and need a way to transform a video image to a digital signal that can be utilized by the computer.
In copending application Ser. No. 707,116, filed on 2/28/1985 there was disclosed a vision system that convertes images to a digital signal wherein the light intensity above a predetermined threshold is assigned a first logic state and intensity below the predetermined threshold is assigned the second logic state. The use of windows provided for reduction of the amount of data that required processing.